AI's woes: What's plaguing the Maharajah

If Ajit Singh is to be believed, the airline has lost Rs 250 crore in revenue, as well as reputation.

"The losses that we have been able to calculate are only in terms of revenue," he says. "This agitation will have a long-term impact on revenues, and that will show."

So, Singh and his men are being tough.

They have sacked a fifth of the IPG pilots (101 of 450), derecognised the union and then did not call it to a recent meeting with recognised unions on the Justice Dharmadhikari Report -- which suggested ways of integrating staff of the two former airlines.

Singh has said that he will not talk to the IPG pilots until they withdraw the agitation.

AI's woes: What's plaguing the Maharajah

The IPG pilots say this issue was to be resolved by the Justice Dharmadhikari Report, but that AI pushed through a policy in October 2011 under which equal numbers of pilots of the formerly separate airlines would train for the Dreamliner.

IPG objected, went to court, and lost.

The IPG's opposition is understandable: with eight pairs of pilots required for each Dreamliner, as many as 432 pilots will have to be trained once all the planes are delivered.

This would bring most of the erstwhile AI pilots their long-awaited promotions. In fact, AI had hired pilots to handle the increase in the international fleet size from 23 to around 50 after induction of the new planes.

AI's woes: What's plaguing the Maharajah

So the decision that half the Dreamliner pilots would come from IA was a rude shock.

In the first stage, the management sent 16 IA pilots to train.

These slots the IPG pilots claimed as their own.

An IPG-affiliated pilot says: "With IA pilots now being allowed to fly Dreamliners we will become commanders only after 24 years.

"This means that a pilot who has joined the erstwhile Indian Airlines even four years after a pilot in the former AI will be commander of a 787 even if they operate together, while the AI pilot will report under him."